'What is meant by the term &quot;hegemony&quot;, and how far can it be applied to Britain's international role in the mid to late 19th century?'

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Tom Woodling Rise Of The Modern World Order Term 1 Essay 1 'What is meant by the term "hegemony", and how far can it be applied to Britain's international role in the mid to late 19th century?' What is meant by the term 'hegemony', and how far can it be applied to Britain's international role in the mid to late 19th century Surveying the political, economic and military fallout surrounding the Peace of Versailles in 1783, it would have been easy to forgive the pessimism that arose in British political circles after the loss of the American colonies. Indeed, as Sir William Shelburne (who was responsible for negotiating the preliminaries, and much of the content, of the Peace) reflected later '"It appeared a madness...to think of colonies after what had passed in North America."'1 This seemed a huge blow not only to Imperial ambitions, but also to Britain's prestige and position against the European states that had inflicted this defeat on them - France, Spain and Holland. The next decade presented a gradual expansion of trade, and a tense but solid peace, and it was in this time the seeds were sown for a new Empire. ...read more.

Middle

The importance of this is immense, and once a cogent movement formed around it in the 1820s, it formed the bedrock of Britain's economic response to the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars. By the middle of the 19th century Britain had established itself as the primary supplier of finance capital into the world markets. There had also been a large flow of capital to the continent, and this is important in the first place for establishing Britain as a hegemon. By the definition given earlier, this export of capital allowed for returns to be accrued from the work of others. These invisible exports were to play an ever-increasing role in balancing Britain's trade, but importantly allowed her political leverage with most of her rivals - although America was still very protectionist at this time due to internal considerations. Free trade was the process by which Britain had opened up the world to her capital, and 'capitalism' became an indispensable fixture in the lexicon of both economists and politicians (see Hobsbawm, 1975, p1) in this period. Free trade was only a concept, though, and it was through the sheer dominance of the Royal Navy and associated maritime ventures in all main shipping routes that was to provide the apparatus. ...read more.

Conclusion

Also, the position of the City of London and the returns from overseas capital investment already made - �1,000 millions invested by 1875 (see Hobsbawm, 1975, p34) - gave her some relief. Even Gramsci appreciated this, The composition of the British balance of trade was subject to constant modification for about fifty years prior to the war [WWI]. The part contributed by the export of goods declined in relative importance and equilibrium was reached more and more thanks to so-called invisible exports.6 Drawing together all the evidence, it looks correct to conclude that hegemony as a concept is applicable to Britain's role in the mid to late 19th century. Even though Britain's economic position relative to the rest of Europe and America declined in the final quarter of the century, her efforts before this had built a base to continue operating as the prime world-power, especially in terms of naval power. The loss of ideological supremacy, in terms of liberal politics and free trade, can be seen as symptoms of the hegemonic decline towards the end of the period, but it was not until the outbreak of World War I that Britain's hegemony could resist the expansionist Germany no longer and was finally exorcised. ...read more.

Related AS and A Level UK, European & Global Economics essays

Even though Britain's industrial revolution benefited Britain's economy and stimulated change, there were side effects to this extent of economic change. Arnold Toynbee was a historian of the period of change, whose publication in 1884, Lectures on the Industrial Revolution painted a picture of the industrial revolution that had had catastrophic consequences for the mass of the people.

As an exemplification: As shown above, if consumers expect future price to be higher, they will buy more which cause the demand curve shifts to right (D1�D2). If price is expected to be lower, consumption will be reduced which cause the demand curve shifts to left (D1�D3).

The GATT/WTO is not a substitute for national governance in trade policy; rather, with the right sort of rules, based on MFN and National Treatment, it can be a helpful auxiliary to good national governance.

The reasons for this are varied and overlapping. The changing status of the world has to be largely attributed to the development of global capitalism. This development was a massive economic change and had great implications in the imperial age.

The type of products he taxed were luxuries like hair-powder, horses and products that only the wealthier could afford. However this policy might not have worked because it might have meant an increase in black-market trade. People brought luxuries like hair-powder and horses into the country to sell to the

* Over the time Leopold ruled the CFS, Congo's population declined from an estimate of about 20-30 million to less than nine. * Leopold attempts to destroy the evidence of genocide, ordering that the CFS archives in Belgium and Congo should be burnt.

The foundations of this economic and colonial bliss had been the mercantile policies followed by politicians for the last 250 years. Since the fifteenth century, Britain had followed a policy of laissez faire and trade in primary commodities within a world market based upon colonies.

Raw materials like rubber from Congo, diamonds from South Africa, cotton from India and Persian oil were exceedingly valuable to European businessmen. Without abundant raw materials, Europe's industrialized economy would almost certainly weaken, sooner or later. These valuable 'necessities' contributed to the growth of Imperialism in India and other resourceful countries.